Affinity

: For Elemental enemies, see Phantom

"Elemental" affinities are the traditional elements of Earth, Air, Water and Fire. This distinguishes them from the affinities of Light and Dark, which among other differences, do not have enhancement spells for armor or weapon affinity bonuses.

Affinity is affected as Class, but rather than a continuum, it is based on a set of opposites.

Physical is opposed to all the Elemental affinities and Light and Dark too. The majority of melee attacks are Physical, which can reduce other affinities.
Air and Earth are opposed Elements: Air-based attacks can reduce Earth affinity and vice versa
Fire and Water are opposed Elements
Light and Dark are an opposed pair. They could be called Elements, but for the purposes of these guides, the distinction of Elements is valuable

Weapon combinations are counterindicated until the player has a really good idea what they are doing with Affinities. See Combinations

Affinities are as important as Class in Damage calculations, but it is a greater challenge to master the art; ie, it is easier to remember Class, even Slimes being Beasts, than guess correctly whether that particular Slime there is Water or Dark affinity. Either can be exploited easily with Gems. The amount of time spent raising Affinities by wandering through Lea Monde should be compared with the time spent using Dummies (Entities#Dummies). Armor can benefit well from repeated castings of elemental guard spells.

Affinity bonuses of an item in the beginning, when it is first dropped, are fairly predictable, based on its material. Note that this is not true of all drops, and items from Chests, which can vary in their bonuses.

Affinity can be altered by Crafting, by attaching Gems to Shields and Weapons, and with spells that also affect either weapons or armor.

One of two things is highly advisable to do with weapons at the start, and it should be done as soon as possible.

Either:

Designate (renaming helps) each of three weapons a separate task. One is for killing Human and Phantom Class enemies. One is for killing Beasts and Dragons. The third is for killing Undead and Evil. As long as this format is adhered to, Ashley's weapons will never ever lose Class points. Elemental affinities will come and go, perhaps making Physical dwindle away to a minus, or Physical may grow and push out hard-won Elemental affinities, but the most precious resource of all, Class, will only get stronger and stronger.

Alternatively, Entities' are quite often significantly more vulnerable to damage Type: Blunt, Piercing, or Edged.

Outside of Phantoms, enemies are much less likely to have easily predictable vulnerabilities to an affinity, other than Undead, to Light. Part of the skill of this game and other RPGs is to learn how to assess enemies in this way. For example, the flying Icthious enemies are Air enemies, which is related to them flying in the air and moving swiftly like the wind. Enemies might also be Air because they use a whirlwind or tornado attack, or because they attack very fast, or for other reasons. The key is an association between the enemy and some attribute, which the developer thinks of and the player must guess. On the other hand, the Ichtious' spell is a Water one, which is suited to its fishlike appearance; the developers are so fond of throwing curves like this at players attempting to predict enemy behaviour, that it may be difficult for some players to notice that it is happening in the first place. If developers abuse this relationship overmuch, then the player becomes disincentivized to even attempt gaining an advantage by assessing the enemy's elements, but Vagrant Story is notably free of such misdirection; the Ichthious is the rare exception rather than the norm.

Class and Affinities when Combining[]

See Raising armor, Raising weapons, Combinations and All High

Two Class and Affinity values are always retained when Combining Items; the highest number, and the lowest number, with one exception. If the lowest number on one piece is met with the highest number on another piece, the highest number prevails.

In this way, bonuses of 100 on everything can be created easily. In the Three Weapon strategy, one blade or equipment specializes in Human and Phantom Class, another Beast and Dragon, and a third Undead and Evil. In the same way, a blade or equipment specializes in either of the opposing affinities, but not the other: Air or Earth, Fire or Water, and Light or Dark. Ideally, another specializes in the opposing affinities, and a third specializes in Physical, but this must be balanced with the Class.

Class will be impacted if two or less items must be combined, and any time Physical must be on the same item as other affinities, they will be. Class, can be simpler, if the classes are raised in order. Raising Human, for example, will impact some Undead points, and Undead, many Phantom points, but at least there is no switching back. Physical points should be gained first, if the number of affinities potentially lost is two or more, to avoid travel time. Physical lost to subsequent Affinity gains must be regained, potentially losing affinities again. The gains will, on average, outstrip the losses, however, and saving and reloading in the event of unwanted losses can help.

Physical[]

The majority of melee attacks are Physical, and can cause increase in Physical affinity on armor. When Physical goes up, it has a tendency to be very destructive to other affinities, sometimes reducing two or more at a time.

The Solid Shock spell that early ghost-type and other Phantoms use is Physical type.

Air[]

Air elementals can be faced at will in the Temple of Kiltia

Fire[]

An easy affinity to gain on armor, due to the Hellhound enemies casting a magic attack that hits multiple armor locations, and the Fire Phantoms in Snowfly Forest and elsewhere.

Earth[]

A reasonably easy affinity to gain on armor, due to the easily accessible Basilisk enemies in Snowfly Forest casting a magic attack that hits multiple locations. There are a relatively large number of Earth Phantom bosses, but they are not encountered "in the wild".

Water[]

The multiple Crab enemies cast a water spell that can hit all body parts.

Light[]

Light is naturally accrued to armor due to the inevitably high use of Ashley's healing spell. This makes Dark enemies, primarily the Dark Phantoms but also at least one Crimson Blade, dangerous unless precautions are taken.

Damascus is strong against the Light damage spells that Liches in the late game like to use.

Dark[]

Silver protects against Dark enemies, both with weapons and armor. Damascus is actually weak to it, making it pretty much a bad idea against the final boss.